INTRODUCTORY DESCRIPTION —THE ORNITHOLOGICAL 

 POSITION OF THE VIRGINIAS. 



According to the classification of Major Hotchkiss,* which has 

 been generally adopted, there are seven great natural divisions of 

 the Virginias, belts of country extending in a general direction 

 from north-east to south-w^est and nearly parallel to each other. 

 These are (i) Tidewater, (2) Middle, (3) Piedmont, (4) Blue 

 Ridge, (5) The Valley, (6) Appalachia, (7) Trans-Appalachia 

 (including the south-western counties of Buchanan, Dickenson 

 and Wise, and nearly the whole of West Virginia). They vary 

 in physical features, altitude and climate and as a natural conse- 

 quence in the characteristics of their avifauna, though for ornith- 

 ological purposes and in respect to climate, the second, third, 

 and most of the fifth division might be classed together as Middle 

 Virginia, and the fourth and sixth and parts of the fifth and 

 seventh as the Mountain region, partly following the simpler ar- 

 rangement of Mai'tin.f East of the Blue Ridge which runs south- 

 westerly through Virginia, the country (which includes the first 

 three of the above mentioned divisions), is level, gradually rising 

 as we proceed westward from the coast, the uniformity of its sur- 

 face being, with some exceptions, only interrupted by the irregu- 

 lar chain which appearing under various names, such as the Bull 

 Run, Clark's, South-west, Carter's, Findlay's, etc.. Mountains, 

 runs parallel to the Blue Ridge, for the most part about thirty 

 miles to the eastward. Among the most elevated points in or 

 near this range are the Tobacco Row Mountain in Amherst, 2938 

 feet high, and Bull Mountain in Patrick Country, 3216 feet. 



The Blue Ridge itself enters Virginia at Harper's Ferry and 

 continues up to the north-eastern corner of Floyd County as a 

 single range: here it divides, the more easterly range being usu- 

 ally called the Blue Ridge, while the western division, to which 

 Professor William B. Rogers showed the name of Blue Ridge 



* Virginia, A geographical & political summary. Richmond, 1876, p. 4. 

 Geography of Virginia by J. Hotchkiss — 1878. The Virginias, Vol. VI, p. 124. 

 t A Gazetteer of Virginia. By Joseph Martin. CharlotteSTille, 1835, p. 17" 



